Greatest Superheroes Based On Their Religious Faith

When it comes to religion, Latter-day Saints (or "Mormons") outnumber
Jews in the United States (according to the 2007 survey of 35,000
people by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, based in
Washington, D.C.). Yet there have been literally hundreds of Jewish
super-heroes in published comics, but only a handful of Latter-day
Saints - even fewer if one considers only super-heroes overtly identified by name as Latter-day Saints.

From this relative paucity, we have selected Tom Evans
(the Canadian counterpart to Captain America) as the greatest
Latter-day Saint superhero. Captain Canuck is a relatively prominent
super-hero (at least compared to other Latter-day Saint superheroes).
Captain Canuck was genuinely written as a Latter-day Saint by his
creator and principle chronicler. Plus, he always displayed devotion to
his beliefs and a strong moral center that Latter-day Saint readers can
be proud of.Captain Canuck is not as well known as some mainstays of Marvel and DC comics (a la Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, et al),
but he is universally known among Canadian comic book fans. Captain
Canuck was even honored on a Canadian postage stamp. Captain Canuck
easily ranks in the top 2 or 3 most famous Canadian superheroes of all
time, and he is well known and respected among comic book fans with
interests in classic independent (non-Marvel/non-DC) superhero
characters. But one knock against Captain Canuck's "greatest" status is
the fact that he is NOT part of the two best known comic book universes:
Marvel and DC.

Another problem with Captain Canuck is the fact that it isn't clear that he was ever overtly identified by name
as a Latter-day Saint in published comics. Captain Canuck was the
creation of a devout Latter-day Saint comic book writer - Richard
Comely. Captain Canuck says Latter-day Saint-style prayers in published
comics and does and says a number of things which clearly hint at his
religious affiliation. Among careful readers, there is no real question
about what Captain Canuck's religion is and that he was a sincere,
devout member, but because it wasn't mentioned by name, this fact is
unknown by many.

But Captain Canuck is a Latter-day Saint and, moreover, he is a truly
great super-hero. He represented Canada before there was Alpha Flight
or other modern Canadian national heroes and he embodied Canadian ideals
and philosophies more than most super-heroes who just happen to be
Canadian. (Wolverine, for example, hardly represents Canadian values and
ideals). Canadians, tolerant by nature, never seemed to mind that they
were represented in superherodom by a member of a denomination that may
be very prominent in Alberta but is a small minority in most of their
nation.